The present invention relates generally to diagrams of logical network layouts and more particularly to a method and system for automatically updating such diagrams.
Leading physical management products evolved from the computer-aided design (CAD) world. The products would use CAD diagrams to graphically represent the network configuration. FIG. 1 displays a typical CAD setup where a system user 10 accesses a relational database 14 with a CAD program 12 to make changes to the network configuration. Like floor plans and other blueprints, these diagrams effectively display the network in terms of scalability and configuration. However they require a trained operator to read and manipulate them in order to make routine moves, adds, and changes (MACs). Although the products could obtain some of the necessary data for these MACs from compatible electronic databases or even import the data from CAD files, the MACs still require substantial manual data entry to accurately document the entire physical infrastructure. Usually customers with electronic records of their cabling can find a way to import the data without reentering it however, most installations do not maintain accurate records of their passive cabling and components. Maintaining them, manually or electronically, has always been a problem, but failing to do so wastes thousands of dollars as technicians search aimlessly through a maze of wiring to perform routine MACs and resolve problems.
Network Management Systems (NMSs) provide administrators with information regarding whether specific devices are up or down, as well as information about how devices are connected to each other. FIG. 2 shows how a system administrator 100 accesses the relational database 104 via a typical NMS 102. However, these systems don""t comprehensively track the network devices or associate them with their appropriate physical and logical locations. Nor do they provide details as to how the objects are connected or the details of intermediate devices.
Accordingly, conventional solutions to these issues are problematic in the sense that the solutions are either fully automatic (i.e. NMSs) and cannot be edited by the user or are fully editable and do not automatically update (i.e. CAD systems) the relational database. Therefore, what is needed is a method and system that allows the user to create, edit, store, and distribute graphical diagrams of logical network layouts.
The method and system should allow for diagrams to be created automatically and then edited and distributed by the user. The method and system should also allow a user to easily edit the network diagrams without affecting the current as-built view of the network. In addition, the method and system should also be able to track network devices, passive and active, and associate them with the appropriate physical and logical locations, specifications, serial numbers, warranty information, etc. Finally, the system and method should be easily implemented and cost effective. The present invention addresses such a need.
A method and system in accordance with the present invention for automatically updating graphical diagrams of logical network layouts is disclosed. The method combines a graphics file with a list of information associating the graphical elements with objects that are within a database and extends a graphics program to reflect the changes in the database with the graphics file and to respond to changes in the database.
Through the use of a system and method in accordance with the present invention, a user can create, edit store, and distribute graphical diagrams of logical network layouts. The diagrams can be created automatically and then edited and distributed by the user. In addition, the user is able to edit the network diagrams without affecting the current as-built view of the network. Finally, the system and method in accordance with the present invention allows for tracking every network device, passive and active, and provides for associating network devices with the appropriate physical and logical locations, specifications, serial numbers, warranty information, etc.